hydraulic lifters (either roller lifters like the newer designs or flat tappet like the 289) have upper rev range limitations but work fine on most street engines. Nice and quiet.

Solid lifters are used where high RPM's were seen, but had the disadvantage of needing lots of fine tuning and adjustments and make more noise, some people like the noise .

Roller lifters have the advantage over flat designs of being able to withstand higher lifts for equal durations so they work very well on street cars with lower RPMS, they also have less friction that flat designs.
The problem with rollers (hyrdaulic or solid) is that they are heavier and therefore at extreme RPMS are harder to control.

These are generalisations and there are exceptions (like "bleed down" hydraulic lifters for high RPMS). I am not the oracle of cam/lifter selection by any means, and the most important thing to get right is the profile of the lobes. Match that to your combo and you wont be upset. Going to Solid lifters is usually a choice based on how often you like to pull the valve covers and fine tune your lash, and whether you like the noise. By themselves they wont make more power but they ENABLE higher revving combinations.

So the question is what kind of combo are you putting together? Mild or wild?

Phil

This occasional valve lash check may uncover a real problem, like valves sinking into the heads. If everything is good the valves should stay adusted properly, but by checking them periodicaly you will find other problems that hydraulic lifters would cover up. Solid lifters are the only way to go, solid rollers are the bestestest.

What part numbers would you use to convert the 72 to say a solid roller? Or hydraulic roller?

Can you use solid rollers on a hydraulic roller cam? I know you can't switch the two on a flat tappet cam but why not on a roller cam?

I want to use solid roller lifters but use a pretty mild cam. Unfortunatly Solid roller cams don't come in mild grinds.

quote:

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Originally posted by steve'66:
... solid rollers are the bestestest.

SteveW

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Yep, if you plan on turning 8500+ rpm. I still think for most applications a solid flat tappet camshaft will make within 10 hp of the solid roller. And, it doesn't have all the extra expense that goes along with building a roller motor, AND there's alot less chance of the pin in the front of the cam failing destroying everything. If I didn't already have all the stuff to put a solid roller back in my racemotor after the last pin failure, I wouldn't have done it. Especially considering the solid flat tappet cam ran EXACTLY the same ET as the solid roller did (last pass with the solid roller was 6.43 @ 106 mph, first pass with the solid flat tappet was 6.43 @ 106 mph).

quote:

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Originally posted by steve'66:
The fact that you don't have to break-in a solid roller is almost worth the extra money. Especially with spring changes after break-in.

SteveW

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A couple of downfalls are, the lifters really should be rebuilt after 2 seasons to keep the fragile needle bearings from going to h*ll (had that happen once, wasn't pretty), and the valve springs need replaced every 2 seasons just like on a flat tappet cam (at least on a motor that see's as much or more rpm than mine), but they cost over $100 more per set.

I must be lucky, so far I have not had any problems breaking in a flat tappet cam.

I still "luv you man" But you are cranky lately. LOL

Flat tappet solid cams went fast way before the roller lifter was even thought of.

quote:

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Originally posted by steve'66:
... But you are cranky lately. LOL

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I am !?!?!?